(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital still camera which converts an optical image into a digital electronic signal representative of the image and stores the digital electronic signal, and more particularly to a still camera capable of communicating with a remote site by means of a wireless telephone system.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In the field of digital still cameras, various types of communication of digital electronic image signals have been proposed. One of the typical proposals is to transmit the digital electronic image signal to a remote device, such as a computer, by connecting a digital still camera to a wireless telephone through a MODEM, and transmitting the signal to the remote device connected to a telephone line.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application Nos. 6-133081 and 6-268582 disclose a digital still camera and a wireless telephone contained in a single housing. The purpose of combining the digital still camera and the wireless telephone in a single housing is to conserve memory to store the digital electronic image signals. In other words, the digital electronic image signals are transmitted from the digital still camera to a computer at a remote site with a large memory.
Such digital image signals would otherwise have to be stored in a memory device included in the digital still camera itself. Thus, the digital still camera can successively take and store a great number of shots without a large memory in the digital still camera itself, which makes possible a compact and inexpensive digital still camera. In other words, Japanese Laid Open Patent Application Nos. 6-133081 and 6-268582 disclose a digital still camera with a large capacity memory to receive digital electronic image signals taken by a remote device.
One object of the present invention is to provide a digital still camera including in a single housing a wireless telephone, which can receive and display a digital electronic image signal generated by another digital still camera. The digital still camera of the present invention receives digital electronic image signals generated by another digital still camera at a remote site without a large capacity memory.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a digital still camera that can receive audio and image signals simultaneously.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a digital still camera capable of telecommunication, in which a user can not only talk in the ordinary manner, but also may view the displayed still image while talking.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a digital still camera that can communicate both the audio and image signals at the same time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a digital camera that can communicate with various types of telephones including a standard one that cannot receive an image signal.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a digital still camera that can transfer audio and image signals to the same type of digital still camera in a very short time period.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a digital still camera that can communicate with various remote devices including a computer.
In order to obtain these objects, the digital still camera of present invention includes:
a device which converts an optical image into digital electronic image signals;
a memory which stores at least one telephone number;
a device which reduces the number of pixels of the converted still image in order to form electromagnetic image signals with decreased number of pixels of the still image;
a device which converts the digital electronic image signals into electromagnetic signals in accordance with a wireless telephone system;
a device which transmits the converted electromagnetic image signals to a remote device with a telephone number; and
a device which inhibits the reducing device when the telephone number of the remote device is a certain number.
Other objects and various advantages according to the present invention will be better understood by means of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment in conjunction with the attached drawings.